


Last Stop Coffee Shop

by Pendragons Dragonlord (PseudoAuthor)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-22 13:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2509469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PseudoAuthor/pseuds/Pendragons%20Dragonlord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They have two weeks together. </p><p>In today's day and age, that's two weeks longer than most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Stop Coffee Shop

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: as always, swearing but I think that's all. Of course if anyone has any issues, don't hesitate to let me know.
> 
> Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine, also, disclaimer - I don't own anything.

As Merlin pushes the boat away from the shore he decides that he can't stay in Camelot.

Arthur was his home but his home has now gone.

So Merlin moves.

...

Don’t be mistaken; do not believe that it is easy for him to say goodbye.

At first he can't bring himself to stray far from the lake. The first time he tries, he panics when he loses sight of Arthur's boat. He runs back, collapsing onto his knees by the water's edge and cries bitter tears.

The next day he takes a step away from the lake. He counts this as progress. He stands watching the boat gently bob in the water.

The next day, he takes another step. Cold winds whip around him rocking the boat from side to side. He gasps as one violent gust almost capsizes the vessel and throws Arthur into the deep depths below. Instinctively his magic reaches out to hold the boat in place…to hold Arthur in place. His magic is still protecting the king long after the king has died.

He takes another step away from the shoreline on the third day. The boat is still visible. He takes another step. And then another…and he keeps going.

One step a day.

He gets to day twenty when the boat disappears completely and he takes it as a sign that Arthur has been accepted into the arms of Avalon.

Moving begins to get easier.

…

Merlin stopped counting the years once he got 2413.

It takes his breath away. One day he wakes up and realises that he’s been on this earth for far too long.

His magic is dying slowly, leaching out of his body like the colours of the landscape leaching out of the earth.

Humanity had poisoned this world. Consumed too much, created too little - fuelled by greed until the life was stripped away of its most essential parts. When the resources ran out, war, famine, disease broke out, all overlapping one another.

The government fell, only to be rebuilt before falling again. The cycle continues.

...

Arthur did not rise then.

He has not risen now.

…

What was once the United Kingdom drifted across the ocean before colliding into the United States of America.

The area is now referred to the _2 nd City of the New United Republic_.

In the interest in full disclosure, it isn’t the second city. Hell to call it a 'republic' is a bit much considering that it's just a small pockets of people. More often than not, it's really just individuals who stumble upon each other.

A matter of happenstance...circumstance...fucking life.

And _'_ united' - it always makes his chest ache with laughter that never greets the red light of day, or night for that matter. People would faster skin each other over a packet of crisps than have the gall to share.

_2 nd City of the New United Republic?_

It was just a name that someone created.

Just a name that managed to stick.

…

Rumours of the creation of a city-square get traction.

Some report that it has large buildings and an impenetrable wall that is always under the watchful eyes of scouts with guns holstered across their backs and grenades in their pockets.

Humans in positions of power, Merlin notes, seem to only know weapons - never kindness.

A family is said to live at the very heart of the central building - only one person has been seen though. The Voivode. 

The Voivode creates a government. It's weak and unstable like the legs of a new born giraffe, but it takes tentative steps in policing the rogues.

...

There are three crucial things that one must know:

> _1._ The Voivode's word is law.
> 
> _2._ If you break The Voivode's law you will be executed.
> 
> _3._ There is no exception to The Voivode's law.

...

Take special note of item number three.

...

Stealing is illegal.

That is the law.

It's nice to know that some things never change.

...

Anyone caught stealing will be placed in a confinement camp before being transferred on Friday to an undisclosed location.

…

It is at this undisclosed location that we find Merlin.


End file.
